New "Arrival Sensor" from Leedarson lets a home automation system know if you're coming or going -- like an iBeacon but with Z-Wave.

Julie Jacobson · February 9, 2017

Leedarson, a giant in LED lighting, could be the biggest sleeper in home automation. Already making smart-lighting products for just about every major building-control protocol, the company began working with Z-Wave about one year ago and introduced a winning product at ISE 2017 this week.

The "Arrival Sensor" lets a smart-home system know if users are entering or leaving the premises. The control system then would enact different scenes based on the activity, for example, setting the home to away mode when everyone's left the place, or automatically unlocking the door when a resident arrives home.

It works kind of like an iBeacon but uses Z-Wave instead of Bluetooth.

It seems like such an obvious product, but "the challenge was in knowing if you're entering or leaving the network without taking any action of your own like pressing a button," says industry consultant Avi Rosenthal, who was manning the booth at the Z-Wave Pavilion at ISE.

Leedarson apparently has a patent pending on the solution, which pings a Z-Wave system every so often to let it know you're around ... or not.

There's a built-in accelerometer that works some magic in the background, preserving battery life when the device is idle.

The user enrolls the product into a control system just like other Z-Wave devices. And, no, you can't enroll it into multiple control systems. So if you want one for both the home and the office, you'll have to buy two (for now).

At ISE, the Z-Wave folks are demonstrating how the lights at the booth turn green when one particular person enters the space, blue when another arrives, and purple when they're both in the area.

The demo unit at the show was in a keyfob form factor, but the technology could be embedded in any type of device.

Definitely watch out for Leedarson in the home-automation space.